We’re particularly chuffed at the website map, where you can browse the tour and see the artistic encounters at any location. For example the National Eisteddfod tour location includes performances by Gwyneth Glyn, Benjamin Zephaniah, Plu, Band Pres Llareggub, Guto Dafydd and many others. The bilingual website was created by our friends and collaborators Proper Design.

I’ll elaborate on the work in detail, for those who are curious.

Almost a year ago NativeHQ was commissioned as digital artist on the Ar Waith Ar Daith project.

When a lighting designer, say, is booked for a theatre show the conventions and expectations tend to be known – but not so in digital work.

Once Walk the Plank, the outdoor events company working on behalf of WMC, had contracted NativeHQ we admitted we didn’t really know the meaning of the job title ‘digital artist’. Maybe they assumed we were joking.

From our experience of theatrical collaborations, we find that it does help to be open-ended about our involvement, while the possibilities and scale of ambition are still being worked out. There is currently no convention for the role of digital media in the creative aspect of such a project, unlike the lighting and other more traditional elements. We simply don’t know if and how digital media will be used creatively. Our remit here is way beyond sales and promotion of the show. Hence the initial period of work was to understand the story and aims of the project – and then scope possible platforms, content ideas, personnel, hardware, software, budgets and schedules.

From the start we knew that the finale celebration would be based on the medieval Welsh legend of Ceridwen, her cauldron and the ineffable poetic inspiration that is awen – referenced in Gwyneth Lewis’ poem on the face of WMC.

It became clear that digital media platforms and the idea of a bus tour offered opportunities for WMC to have a pan-Wales project, to work with diverse artists wherever they live, and meet the centre’s aspiration to showcase the best of Wales to the world.

We intended for our work to have lasting effects, to connect artists – to each other and to fans. Artists would want to accrue fans beyond the tour, with a view to future gigs and performances, selling artworks, releasing music, offering crowdfunding and the like.

Once the plan was written, refined and approved, the Awen Bus was fitted with a stage, window blinds, rudimentary furniture and storage, electricity supply, modest kitchen, and some much needed access security.

The bus team did a sterling job of sharing the performances through video, Periscope live streams and other social media posts. It became apparent that video editing should be kept to a minimum if we were to reach a maximum number of artists in the time available.

One essential requirement was to render a permanent onscreen credit to each artist in each video – along with a link to become a fan where possible, e.g. the artist’s Twitter account or website. That and the ongoing persistence of the video on YouTube would lead to maximum benefit for the artist.

Each artist had the option of releasing the resulting video under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence to encourage re-use and adaptations. Alternatively they could take a more traditional licensing option to offer the video for use by the Ar Waith Ar Daith project and reserve other rights.

Connectivity was a major challenge, especially in some rural areas, and despite valiant efforts with a BRCK WiFi hotspot and two mobile data plans we struggled to upload videos from all the tour locations. Instead we had to opt for occasional café access and shuttle trips to reliable home broadband.

We obtained useful data analytics and tour conversation insights from a paid service with Pulsar Platform – although for a smaller projects the level of detail offered might be overkill.

Our aim was for the Cauldron of Inspiration to feel authentic and avoid any associations with computers. According to the writer Arthur C. Clarke, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’, which conveys the kind of result we desired.

At this point I can reveal that the Cauldron of Inspiration was powered by two computers. Inside the chassis was a Raspberry Pi computer connected to proximity sensors, motion sensors, and activation effects: fog, furnace lights and sounds. The other computer was a Mac Mini creating the apparitions of artists, achieved with a remotely-curated Dropbox playlist of fresh performance videos, a darkened panel and foggers.

This Mac Mini was also connected to a webcam for live conversation with the bus team. We deliberately limited the input devices on the cauldron to just the sensors, with no graphical interface or notifications. The live conversations would appear ad hoc without warning, between recent videos.

As a brand new design of a one-off piece of hardware we often had to intervene directly in the cauldron to fix problems and ensure maximum levels of awen. We could also access the two computers remotely, from our phones if necessary. Software tools and platforms included VDMX, Dropbox, WebRTC, Python, Node.js and other libraries.

Penblwydd hapus WMC! I think we broke new ground, not just for ourselves as a team but in an artistic sense. We are enormously grateful to the following people for their ideas and valuable work.

Diolch o galon i:

All artists and performers who took part, each of whom is credited in their video.

All these roles are for the Ar Waith Ar Daith project, part of Wales Millennium Centre’s tenth anniversary celebrations over summer 2015.

These are fantastic opportunities to take part in an exciting project with Walk the Plank, NativeHQ and others; a tour of Wales to discover inspiration and artistry of the nation, to share from the Centre to Wales to the world.

Please share the details with people who would be interested in these jobs.

We need a host, a designer and a programmer for a big project called Ar Waith Ar Daith, for the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Wales Millennium Centre in summer 2015.

These are superb opportunities to participate in an exciting project; a journey around Wales, discovering the inspirations and art of the country, sharing it from the Centre to the country and the world.

If you’re an arts organisation looking to use digital media more intelligently, this post is for you. Read on for details of how NativeHQ can help you, through our Social Media Insights: Arts programme.

Social media have the potential to change the possibilities for arts organisations to connect meaningfully with audiences, communities, staff and other key people – if done properly. It’s getting it right in a specific arts context that is the challenge. And it’s much more than just improving your promotional activities or selling tickets.

All arts organisations are facing challenges:

How can we achieve more with less public funding?

How can we involve our audiences better in the creation, as well as the production of new work?

How can we build a better understanding of our company that can help us recruit more volunteers or help raise funds to secure our future?

How can we test a new business model in the quickest and cheapest way?

Social Media Insights: Arts is specifically designed to help arts organisations develop social media understanding and skills that are most relevant to them.

NativeHQ can help your company develop more efficient working practices, embrace emerging art forms; reach new audiences and participants; and sustain the company through new business models or generate more income from new sources such as crowdfunding.

“Social Media Insights came at just the right time for Hijinx. We were in a period of change as a company, so it was the right time to stop and reflect on who are we, what we do, and how digital and social media could help us do that at a foundational level. NativeHQ have helped us to take a holistic approach to digital and social media as a company: to see digital’s potential for serving the company’s entire mission, rather than just as part of the marketing strategy”
Vanessa Morse, Hijinx Theatre

As NativeHQ’s newest associate I can also offer my expertise in helping arts companies undertake organisational development and innovation reviews.

Your arts organisation would work with NativeHQ to develop and follow your own agenda for improving your use of social media, covering issues such as strategy, training, network growth, individual campaigns, advertising, media production, monitoring and evaluation.

We won’t run your Facebook or Twitter accounts for you, but we will teach you how to run and manage meaningful social media relationships that support your overall artistic and development needs.

On the roof of the Millennium Centre, Cardiff

The programme consists of the following activities:

10 x half day sessions with NativeHQ over a four to eight month period (agreed with you and starting when most convenient for you)

We will begin with a process based on our 4P Method for developing strategic direction with social media and prioritising initiative ideas, that we will then pursue through training and enabling work with you

Between each session, you and NativeHQ would agree agendas for the next sessions

An enthusiasm across your organisation for the potential of using digital networks for development. We would prefer to include leaders, marketing/communications and other team members. The implications are important to all aspects of the company’s work.

A morning or afternoon set aside for staff to meet with NativeHQ regularly

An open, rigorous, experimental approach to learning

A named lead person for the programme in your organisation

Willingness to participate in a limited number of R&D and evaluation activities to assist learning in the programme

“When we embarked on the Social Media Insights I really had not anticipated quite how the project would touch on every aspect of what we do and how we operate. Instead of some glib, generic advice on what to do / what not to do on social media, the project went so much deeper than that and required us to unpack who we are, how we do things and how we want to be and do. It was very, very bespoke and accommodated everyone’s’ skills and needs as well as the organisational needs.

As a result of the SMI Arts, we now manage our projects; communicate within the team; manage our time; market ourselves; make and edit films and of course, use social media – much better than before!”
Amanda Griffkin, Powys Dance

If you are interested in engaging NativeHQ for this innovative programme, or for a specific social media project you are considering, I would love to meet you.

I will provide more details about the programme including wider business and organisational development, our costs, how we can help you secure additional funding (if necessary) and to ensure we tailor the programme to your company’s needs and plans.

Email richie@nativehq.com or phone 07870 569316 for a discussion about Social Media Insights: Arts.